Deer ticks are bad news. But we may soon be faced with an expanding population of one of their even more dangerous cousins.

A Tufts Vet School Lyme disease authority, Dr. Sam Telford, shared that Lone Star ticks (Amblyomma americanum) — the major infectious villains from New Jersey south to Florida, west to Texas and Kansas, and up to Illinois — are now in Massachusetts and have been recorded as far north as Maine.

With global warming, should we be surprised about hosting yet another southern invader? Maybe not — but we should be very concerned. In Dr. Telford’s words, “Lone Star ticks are very bad news.”

LST’s transmit STARI, southern tick associated rash illness, a disease that mimics Lyme disease, as well as monocytic ehrlichiosis, Ehrlichia ewingii ehrlichiosis, rickettsiosis and tularemia. They are also suspected vectors of a recently recognized phlebovirus that caused two hemorrhagic fever cases in Missouri. There’s even speculation that LST’s can cause alpha gal, an allergy to red meat.

Lone Star ticks are unusually aggressive, regularly moving considerable distances in pursuit of a blood host. Because their nymphs and larvae feed mainly on deer, Dr. Telford advises that we should encourage and support deer hunting to adequately manage our herds wherever they pose a problem.

Lone Star ticks tend to live in very specific habitats, notably where kudzu and bittersweet, two alien invasives, proliferate. Fortunately, at least for now, Telford notes, infestations of them fizzle out. Locally, the only stable populations are on Prudence Island in Rhode Island, Cuttyhunk, and Nashawena. Telford finds it odd that they’ve been there since the 1960’s and have not spread far into the surrounding mainland, though Long Island is now loaded with them.

So far, the vast majority of ticks we’ve found parasitizing birds at our banding station at the Auburn Sportsman’s Club have been deer ticks. We’ll definitely be looking more carefully for Lone Star ticks once fall migration banding resumes in September. Adult females are easily recognized by their unique white dot or “star” centered on their backs. Their nymphs and larvae are harder to identify.

Although ticks are undeniably dangerous, they shouldn’t prevent anyone from enjoying the outdoors. Everyone venturing forth in dense woods and brushy areas — the most dangerous tick areas — though, should prudently be applying permethrin to repel them.

River fly-fishing took a big hit this week with flooding rains. Most streams are too high, too fast and unfishable. The current overflow, though, should significantly extend our season if temperatures don’t get oppressive too soon. The flooding is going to have an impact on access, though, to the most dramatic mayfly emergence of the year, the hexagenia hatch.

Each evening, just around sunset every mid-June, the giant hexagenia hatch and spinner fall afford fabulous fishing on the Ware River. You might need a canoe or belly boat, though, to enjoy it.

I love hexagenias — and am much indebted to them. Soon after we wed, my bride, Helen, and I fly-fished the Ware. It was arguably the greatest night of fishing I ever had.

Hexagenias, the largest of our mayflies, are huge and clumsy — almost like Luna moths — commanding the attention of every trout in the river when they emerge. They offer an enormous nutritional bounty. Stretching, quivering and floating erratically downstream, hexagenias are easy to mimic with a big fly — and even a bad cast.

New to fly casting, my bride, just learning the rhythms and coordination of rod, line, wrist and arm, periodically flailed the water, slapping the surface behind her. The commotion that her size-10 White Wulff made represented well the big mayfly’s behavior. On one of those less-than-stylish back casts, a 17-inch rainbow inhaled her fly, pulling out line fast enough for her reel to sing.

I can still hear her laughing and yelling triumphantly, excitedly holding onto her bent, throbbing rod — and the most important fish she ever caught on a fly. From that first night of success, amazed by the leaping athleticism of a rainbow, she was sublimely hooked. In the following years, she would become an excellent caster and my loyal fly fishing partner on great trout and salmon waters all over the world.

“We can bow hunt Connecticut on Sundays!” I was elated but skeptical of my hunting partner’s jubilant assertion. Usually I get official word of such important rule changes well before they’re implemented. He got his information off the Internet from fellow hunters’ blogs, not from an official Connecticut source. We can’t always believe what we read on the web.

Sunday hunting in Connecticut would indeed be a game changer having a number of positive effects. Local hunters, frustrated by Massachusetts’ reluctance to permit Sunday bow hunting, would have a convenient and productive option, in some cases doubling their recreational time. Connecticut would gain license revenues from hunters presently restricted to Sunday opportunities in New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont. I called Connecticut wildlife biologist Peter Picone to confirm or dispel the rumor.

Picone proclaimed that “Although this year, enough votes were allegedly there to allow Sunday bow hunting, the proposition was never brought up for a vote.” This was pure politics as usual. Meanwhile, the wait for Sunday bow hunting in Connecticut — and Massachusetts — continues.

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